Shoppers Stop thrusts on digital play with Rs 60 cr kitty

Kolkata, Oct 7 (PTI) : Retail major Shoppers Stop Limited, in a bid to keep pace with the online shopping trend, will roll out its digital play strategy in phases before the festive season.

“Currently our online sales is minuscule to about one per cent, but in the next three to five years we are targeting 15 per cent sales from digital touch-points based on onmi-channel strategy,” Shoppers Stop chief operating officer Manohar Kamath said here today.

Kamath was in the city to inaugurate Shoppers Stop’s fifth store in the city and 74th in the country.

Omni-channel strategy would entail an investment of Rs 60 crore over the next three years and would give flexibility to a customer in buying a product from the retailer.

Shoppers Stop was even contemplating on delivering its merchandise even in two to five hours similar to hyper-local model.

“In the omni-channel strategy, a buyer can get their purchase in even 2-5 hours. We are open to all options,” Kamath said when asked whether Shoppers Stop would tie up with hyper-local startups for logistics challenges.

The company was also ready with its mobile application, which would be launched in a few days, he said.

“Our plan is to open six to eight stores every year. This year (2015-16) we have already opened four stores and plan to add another four by March next year,” he said.

Commenting about the revenue growth, Kamath added, “we expect high double digit sales growth in the current fiscal boosted by the festive season.”